How to Create a Design with Color and Pattern

Okay doke, campers.......

Today I'm going to do what I said I would do, 

but don't start to think that that is a normal occurrence.

I am going to take you step by step through how I brought color and pattern into what had started out as just a blue and white room.

Here's the finished product.....

No, that's a lie,
I still have to make the cushion and pillow for my desk chair.
Try to ignore them.
Pretend they're done.
OOPS!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~

I had originally planned on mirroring the blue and white toile of my bedroom.

(Once again, here's the reminder shot, so you can see what I'm blathering on about.....)

So, I used the same rug in both rooms.....

I know, I know.....

I already told you this, but some folks are late to the party.....I

I chose a blue and white wallpaper, with an all over pattern that would create a blue background.....

Then I added a white loveseat, continuing the blue and white theme.....

So, at this point, I was developing a room that didn't really reflect my sensibilities.

This is what happens when you try to reinvent yourself into something 

THAT YOU'RE NOT!!!!!

I AM NOT A TWO COLOR WOMAN!!!!!

NO, NO,NO, NO, NO!!!!!

I am a multicolor babe!!!!

Yes in deedy do!!!!!

So this is the progression, from point A (two colors)

to point B ( a gazillion colors).

As I told you, I found the pair of bergeres (French armchairs) on ebay and planned on reupholstering them.....

When I placed the sofa and chairs in the room, it bothered me that the corners of the room were bare looking.

By now you should know that I don't like an empty space, 

it needs to be filled with something!!!!!

I was at an estate sale one weekend, when I came across an old dark beat up and ripped folding screen made from 4 panels out of old leather 

or Naugahyde,

 not sure which, I don't care,

 it doesn't matter, I painted over it.....
I have to show it to you with the screen folded closed, since I forgot to take a picture of it before I painted it, so the front is painted, and I can only show the back to make my point, and the back doesn't hinge the other way, if you understand what I mean, and can deal with this run on sentence.........

So, now I had a blue and white room with big black blobs in the corners.....
oy, oy, oy.....

So, next I painted the screens and decoupaged copies of floral prints onto the panels. 

OOOhhhhh,,,,, I started feeling better!!! 
This is when I realized that I can't deny my
NEED FOR FLOWERS!!!!
I was trying for a more sophisticated look in my new home.
I was trying to be more grown up, now that I was retired.
I was trying to be 
SOMETHING I'M NOT!!!!!
You have to listen to your heart
 when it comes to decorating your own home.
I am a flower girl....
I am a flower woman....
I am a flower babe.....
I am a flower GODDESS!!!!!
Now, I needed to get more on the walls....
the walls looked TOO BARE!!!

So, 
Back TO EBAY!!!!!
I found the pair of plaster sconces and floral 1930's prints, as well as the majolica plates.
I already had the plaster dogs.
(I will be going into more detail about the different elements used in the room in the next few blog posts, so keep tuned. But today, it's all about the transformation from one feel to the next.)
By now, the room was starting to feel more like someplace I would actually live, but I wasn't there yet.
I needed more color.
I needed more flowers.

So, I started working on the toss pillows on the loveseat.
I've mentioned before how important toss pillows are to finishing a space.
Just like an outfit, if you don't have the right jewelry and accessories, a little black dress is just a sad black shmate!!!!
(For those of you who are deficient
 in your Yiddish fluency,
a shmate is a rag.....)
I made a pair of ruffled ones out of left over fabric from a job in Vermont.
Yes, Connie!!!!!
I used fabric from your job!!!!!
And no.....
You don't get any money back!!!!


Where was I?????
Oh, yeah, my blog.
At this point, I stood back and took a long look at what I had wrought.....
STILL.....
NOT ENOUGH COLOR!!!!!
NOT ENOUGH PATTERN!!!!!  
So I added some more of both!!!!

I had been accumulating blue toned barkcloth from ebay.
I threw one scrap over the sofa to see if I liked it for a pillow, 
AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW???!!!
I liked the look of it just draped over the back. 
I've never done that before.
I may never do it again.
Who knew????
I think it's just the perfect touch.
It let me have my white slipcover, but cut into the starkness of the uninterrupted white.
Then I made another toss pillow from another piece of vintage barkcloth, and framed it with leftover trim.
(No Connie, the trim wasn't from your job.)
(JEESH....)
Now it was time to tackle the pair of chairs.

As I told you on Friday, I made the slipcovers in white, but didn't want a totally white look, so covered the cushions in more vintage barkcloth in blue.
But the chairs still looked like they needed more, so I am going to make toss pillows covered in the same fabric as the one draped over the back of the sofa.....

There's not enough to do both pillows front and back, so I need to figure out what to put on the back. Hopefully, by the time I finish writing about this room, I will have made these two pillows, so that I have
EVEN MORE TO SHOW OFF!!!!!
So, here is the before and after, next to each other for comparison 

So, that's how I brought color and pattern to this room.
I hope this was helpful in showing how it's done.
Just one step at a time.
Build on a design.
Take your time and enjoy the process.


Latah Gatah

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